Victor leber



(No Model.)

V.LBBBR. FIRE ESCAPE.

Patented Oct. 18, 1892.

INVEJvToR g Il Il..

. me Nouns Penna co., mururnul, WASHINGTON, n, c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VICTOR LEBER, OF DANBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO FREDERICKJ. WEICHERT, OF SAME PLACE.

FIRE-ESCAPE.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 484,536, dated October18, 1892.

Application tied May s1, 1892.

To @ZZ whom, t may con/cern:

Beit known that I, VICTOR LEBER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Danbury, in the county of Fairfield and State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFire-Escapes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object to produce a simple, inexpensive, andeasily-operated tire-escape, which may be readily attached in place ortransported from one place to another.

With these ends in view I have devised the simple and novel constructionwhich I will now describe, referring by numbers tothe accompanyingdrawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is anelevation, partly in section, of my novel lire-escape, showing the caseand carrier partly swung out of a window; Fig. 2, a similar elevation,as seen from the right in Fig. 1, the case being in section on a planeat right angles to the plane of the section in Fig. 1; Figs. 3 and 4,detail views, on an enlarged scale, illustrating means by which I securethe swinging carrier in place; Fig. 5, a viewon an enlarged scale of oneform of chair which I use; Fig. 6, a sect-ion on the line 5c @cin Fig.1; and Fig. 7 is a detail view illustrating a Well-known form of chairwhich I contemplate using.

1 denotes the wall of a building, and 2 the casing of a window.

A denotes a swinging carrier, which consists, essentially, of a verticalrod 3 and a horizontal arm #t and braces 5, rigidly secured thereto. Theends of the vertical rod are pivoted and turn freely in eyes 6, whichare rigidly secured to the casing or to the building on the inner side,so as to permit the carrier to lie close against the wall on theinnerside or to be swung out through the window. Eyes 6 are preferably formedupon bolts 7, which may be passed through the casing and throughstay-pieces 8, as in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, or, if preferred, a longer boltmay be used, as in Fig. 4, and the bolt passed Serial No. 434,875. (Nomodel.)

through the side of the building, the bolt and carrier being held inposition by nuts 9,Which may or may not be provided with hand-pieces 10forconvenience in tightening up. Vhere the stay-pieces are used, I alsouse set-screws 11 to assist in locking them in place, the setscrewsbeing turned into the wall of the building on the inner or outer sides,or both.

The mechanism of my novel tire-escape is inclosed in a case l2, havinghooks 13, by which it is firmly but detachably secured to the horizontalarm of the swinging carrier. (See Figs. 1 and 2.) The chair by which thedescent is made is attached to a chain 14, which is wound on a drum 15on a shaft 16, journaled in the case. Shaft 16 is provided with a pinion17, which engages a gear-wheel 18, journaled on a shaft 19, which isitself journaled in the case, said gear-wheel turning independently ofthe shaft.

2O is a drum on shaft 19, which is rigidly secured to the gear-wheel, soas to turn with it.

21 is a spring, one end of which is connected to one of the cross-pieces22, by which the case is held together, the other end being connected tothe drum.

23 is a ratchet rigidly secured to shaft 19, and 24 a pawl pivoted tothe gear-wheel and engaging the ratchet, the pawl being held inengagement with the teeth of the ratchet by a spring 25.

26 is a crank which may or may not be rigidly attached to one end ofshaft 19, by which said shaft may be rotated should it be necessary atany time to wind the spring in order to increase its power. Vhen theshaft is rotated by the crank, the ratchet is turned with it and thepawl acts to hold it against backward movement.

27 (see Fig. 2) is a 'drum formed integral with drum 15.

2S is a metallic brake-strap, one end of which is connected to one ofthe cross-pieces 22, said strap being passed once and a half times (moreor less) vabout drum 27, and having a chain 29 attached to its lowerend, the free end of the brake-strap and the chain to which the chair isconnected passing through an opening 30 in the bottom of the case.

31 is aspri-ng,one end of which is connected IOO to a pin or eye 32within the case, the other end being connected to the lower end of thebrake-strap, the object being to overcome the weight of the chain, sothat in use the brake strap and chain will not retard the rotation ofthechain-drum until the brake-chain is pulled down.

33 is an opening in one side of the case to I permit the operator toinsert his hand in oiling the mechanism. Any suitable form of chairmaybe used in connection with chain 14.

In Fig. 1 I have shown a form of chair in which the seat consists of twoparts 34, one of which is provided with a slot, the` other with a boltpassing through the slot, so as to permit said parts to slide over eachother, said parts being additionally secured together by a loop or strap35. At the lower end of chain 14 is a ring 36, the chair being connectedto said ring by means of rods 37.

In Fig. 5 I have illustrated another form of chair, which is speciallyadapted for use in taking down ladies or children, as the person placedin it cannot fall out. The seat is connected to the ring by rods 37, thesame as in the other form. The side rods are braced,as at 38, to theseat and are connected at suitable heights to form a support for theback by a rod 39.

40 is a rod or strap at the front, one end of which is provided with asnap-hook adapted to engage an eye on one of the side rods, the otherend being loosely connected to the other side rod. This front strap orrod may be disconnected at one end to permit a person to be placed inthe chair and when connected will hold the person securely and preventhimv from falling ont.

In practice I contemplate providing the different windows of buildingswith swinging carriers, but do not necessarily place a case and chair inevery room. I provide eyes 41 in braces 5, through which a rope may bepassed for the purpose of drawing up a case and chair, and provide thecase with hooks 42 for the convenient attachment of the rope, it beingcontemplated that the rope be passed through eye 41 and a case and chairdrawn up, if necessary, and then attached to the swinging carrier, theweight of the case and the mechanism contained herein being so littlethat it might be drawn up and attached in place by any person notnecessarily an adult.

In practice any light form of chain or wire ropes may be used to supportthe chair and operate the brake. I find in practice that what iscommonly known -as flat chain-?J. e., chain formed from links of sheetmetal (see Fig. 6)-is admirably adapted for this purpose.

In use the swinging carrier, case, and chair are swung out of the windowand the person to descend places himself in the chair, the brake-chainbeing held by the person in the chair or by a person in the window or011 the ground. The descent may be made more or less rapidly, dependingon the management of the brake-chain. As the chair descends, thechain-drum is rotated, which, through the pinion and gear-wheel, turnsdrum 2O on shaft 19 and winds up the spring. As soon as the descent ismade and the brake-chain is released slightly the spring will act todraw the chair up to the case again.

It will of course be understood that the details of construction may begreatly varied without departing from the principle of my invention.

I claimp 1. In a fire-escape, the combination, with a suitable chair, achain connected thereto, and a drum 15, upon which said chain is wound,of a drum 27, made solid with drum 15, abrakestrap, one end of which issecured to a fixed portion of the device and which is passed about thedrum, a brake-chain attached to the other end of the strap, and a springone end of which is connected to the free end of the strap, the otherend being connected to a fixed portion of the device so as to counteractthe weight of the chain and relieve the friction of the strap on drum27.

2. The combination, with the chair, chain 14, shaft 16, having pinion17, and drums 15 and 27, of the brake-strap, shaft 19, having gear wheel18 and drum 2U, loosely mounted thereon, and a spring, one end of whichis connected to drum 20 and which is wound when the chair descends, aratchet rigidly secured to the shaft, and a pawl carried by thegearwheel which engages the ratchet, so that the tension of the springmay be increased by turning the shaft, the latter being held againstbackward movement by the pawl and ratchet.

3. The combination, with bolts 7, having eyes 6 and stay-pieces 8, of aswinging carrier journaled in said eyes and swinging in a horizontalplane, case l2, having hooks for attachment to the carrier, the chair, achain connected thereto, and mechanism within the case whereby thedescent of the chair is controlled and it is drawn back to the caseafter the load is removed.

4. The combination, with bolts 7, having eyes 6 and nuts 9, and astay-piece having a set-screw 11, of a swinging carrier journaled insaid eyes, a case having hooks for attachment to the carrier, a suitablechair, and Winding and brake mechanism within the case, whereby thechair is drawn up and its descent controlled.

5. The combination, with the case, shaft 19, gear-wheel 18, a ratchetsecured to the shaft, a pawl pivoted to the gear-wheel and engaging theratchet, drum 2U, turning on the shaft, and a spring one end of which isfixed and the other end connected to the drum, of a shaft 16, having apinion engaging the gearwheel, drums 15 and 27, a chair having a chain14 connected to drum 15, a brake-strap passing around drum 27, and achain 29, connected to the other end of the brake-strap.

6. The combination, with the case, shaft 19,

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gear-wheel 18, and drum 20, turning thereon,`

and a spring one end of which is fixed and the other connected to thedrum, of shaft 16, having a pinion engaging the gear-wheel, drums 15 and27, a chair having a chain 14 connected to drum 15, a brake-strap oneend of which is Xed, the other passing around drum 27, a chain 29,connected to the lower end of said strap, and a spring 31, one end ofwhich is connected to the strap and the other to the case, whereby thefriction of the strap on drum 27 is relieved until chain 29 is pulleddownward.

7. The combination, with shaft 19, having gear-wheel 18 and drum 20,mounted and VICTOR LEBER.

Witnesses:

GEORGE WAKEMAN, JOHN R. BOOTH.

